Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1887-07-06
Practical View of the Marriage Question.
Sermon Preached by Rev. A. W. Fuller
Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Sta utOn, Va.
Sunday Evening, June 10th. 1887.

Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Sta utOn, Va
Sunday Evening, June 10th, 1887.
"And the rib which the Lord God hath take
from man made He woman and brought he
unto the man."-GEN. II: %.
One of our great and damaging faults is
that in many cases we turn that which Go
intended for our good into our detriment
On the one hand, this is the result of GU
distrust in all-wise God and on the othe
hand, it is the result of our ignorance 0
Gods plan of creation, government and re
demption.
In no case is this more apparent than il
the social and moral evil which grows ou
of the subversion of the reciprocal relation
of the sexes. Next to the church of Go,
in Importance, but older than the church
stands the sacred institution of marriage
1t was not instituted by a priest standin!
at an altar, nor by an angel from Heaven
but by the Lord of Glory. Notice th'
text-s'And the rib which the Lord Get
had taken from the man, builded he unto
woman and brought her unto the man."
No man needs to live in ignorance upon
this great and important question, whit
will take this verse and study it in th'
light of Gods word, the hely spiri
and prayerful meditation. And to the
study of this subject, invite your prayer
full attention for one brief half hour.
The text suggests four thoughts. Bu
before we come to them let us give more
careful study of the meaning of the text
And first, lis it a fgurative or literal ex
preston? There are thousands who content
that it is a literal expression, and that doa
did really tear open the side of Adam ani
take out rib and then made out of this rit
a woman. This they support by saying thai
if this verse is fgurative, the whole story il
figurative, and hence the woman was moi
real, Adam was not real, the whole plan oi
creation was not real, and everything was
figure of speech.
Then on the other hand, there are
those who contend that this is purely a
figure of speech. They contend that the
man and the woman were created on the
same day and named at the same time. As
proof Of this, they refer you to Genesis S
2, where Moses plainly says: "Male and
female created He them, and blessed them
and called their name mot has name
Adam, in the day when he created them
mot him]. 1t matters little to us which
view is correct. The bible was not written
as text on Anthropology, but to teach us
our duty to ourselves, our neighbors and
our God, and then by the aid of Gods
spirit to SO square our life by the Gospel
rule that we will not be ashamed in the
general Judgment. Whether this be fig.
urative or literal expression we leave for
those to decide who have time to waste on
the barren hilltops of fruitless speculation.
What we are after and intend to bring out
is the four precious truths contained in the
text. The meaning of the text will appear
as we proceed to show:
I. That marriage is divine institution,
God, as the creator of the universe and the
righteous judge can never be the author of
any sinful thing. We are free to admit
that in Isaiah 45 =, it is taught that God
is the author of evil. But in chat case it is
physical evil, such as earthquakes, hurri-
canes, and storms at sea. And God is said
to be the author of the physical evil done
by these storms because be creates the
storms. In the same sense, God is the au-
thor of day and night, light and darkness.
But because He is the author of physical
darkness, it does by no means follow that
He is the author of moral darkness. God
was the author Eof the three hours dark
ness during the scene of the crucifix-
ion. This was physical darkness. But
there was spiritual darkness in which the
Jewish nation havefbee cropping ever since.
Moses came down out of the mountain and
they asked him to vail his face because of
the glory of God. From the moment they
made that request the Jews have been in
spiritual darkness. Now, the devil is the
author of that darkness. But whatever
God does is upright, pure and just.
Marriage is one of the first acts of God.
Indeed, it stands at the head of a great list
of infinite gifts which God has given to
man. And we believe marriage is divine
because God ordained and insti-
tuted it. Not only so. We believe it is a
divine institution because it was instituted
between the holy people. When Adam
made his marriag vow to God he meant
what he said. When he said, this is now
bone Of my bone, he meant that just as the
bones support the body, that just so he in
tended to support Eve. And Eve meant
that just as the flesh and bones can be sep
arated by nothing but death, just so moth
ing but death could ever separate them.
Young gentlemen, if you want to be hap
py in time and eternity. I beg of you. to
tread softly into the Holy of Holes of a
young 1ady's affections, for it is Holy
Ground. Young ladies, never enter this
sacred institution unless you are thoroughly
convinced that God has led you to the man.
And SO we remark, also, that our belief
in the sacredness of the marriage institu-
tion is further strengthened by the fact that
there is a mystery in marriage which can
be satisfactorily explained only on the hy-
pothesis that marriage is divine Institu-
tion. We refer to the mutual and almost
unreasonable confidence and love which
Spring up between the two. How that in
this deceitful world people can meet for the
first time and commence to love and keer
on loving until their mutual confidence and
love become so great that they can forsake
the two best friends God ever gave them
and cling to one another. This mystery is
explained nowhere else in this world ex
cept in the text, which says, God led the
woman to the man. And if God had 9
hand in the matter, it must be sacred. And
my prayer is, that every marriage may be 9
marriage where God has led the woman te
the man, and Jesus Christ appears in every
difficulty, turning the waters of sorrow into
the wine of joy.
II. We have detained you too long al
ready. So We will hasten to notice the secenG
lesson taught in the text: Man is to support
woman. God took the bone out of the mar
aud builded it into woman. From this VIZ
learn that just as the Eones support the
flesh SO man is to support woman. We
know the purpose the bones serve. They
support the flesh. The flesh may be bruised
and torn; aye, sometimes, the bones may
peep through the flesh, but the human
frame still moves on. But the moment yot
break bone, locomotion ceases. The sup
port of the body is broken and it must fall
And just SO in the social world, as Shaks
peare has it, "Women fall when there is ne
strength in men,
Man is to support his wife by his love fo
her. Next to mans love for his God is tt
be his love for the wife of his choice, O
rather of Gods choice. And wherever thi
love is wanting, life itself to them will b.
one dreary march to the grave. Man is t,
manifest this love by providing as far al
possible for the reasonable wants of hi.
wife. Many have likened man and wife t,
a yoke of oxen. While this is true figure
and is even used in Scripture, it is very ia
from conveying the whole truth. God new
er intended woman to take her stand by tn,
side of man and bear the same load-th,
burden the same cares. She was not in
tended to take her ak on her shoulders ant
chop wood all day, nor to hoe corn. know
that circumstances alter cares. And tina